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The Sharia is not in force anywhere except Saudi Arabia and Iran, you'll hear. Christians enjoy rights equal to those of Muslims in other Muslim countries, you'll hear. Then why are there so many stories like this one?
From IOL.ie, with thanks to Nicolei:
A Pakistani court has convicted and sentenced a Christian man to seven years in prison for insulting Islam’s holy book, the Koran, as he practiced magic, police said today.A court delivered the ruling on Monday against Bashir Masih, 35, in the town of Chistian, about 90 miles northeast of Multan, a major city in eastern Punjab province, said Haji Nazir Ahmed, a local police official.
Masih was arrested in August last year in the cotton-growing village of Chak 109 Fateh after a Muslim man complained to police that Masih was insulting the Koran by putting his legs on the holy book while he lay in bed at home, Ahmed said.
Ahmed said that after his arrest Masih told police he would place the Koran on his feet and tear out pages from the holy book on which he would write magic spells to put inside amulets that he’d give to fellow Christians.
This doesn't sound to me like anything anyone with the brains God gave a hamster would admit to doing in Pakistan, no matter what the actual facts of the case. This sounds to me more likely to be just another example of the way Christians are victimized by the blasphemy laws, which are so easy for Muslims to use against Christians they for some reason don't like or want around.
Masih was sentenced under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and moved to a jail in the nearby town of Bhawalnagar. He can appeal the sentence....Under the blasphemy laws, anyone who insults the Koran, Islam or its prophet Muhammad can be punished by death. Throwing the holy book on the ground, touching it with feet or saying derogatory things about it are deemed insulting.
Human rights groups have demanded that the blasphemy laws be abolished. Christian groups allege persecution under the legislation.
Posted by Robert at February 24, 2005 9:44 AM
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Any chance that this poor fellow was tortured into the admission?
Posted by: waterdragon52![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 24, 2005 10:03 AM
What he is accused of is totally illogical, from a non-Moslem perspective. Only a superstitious Moslem could regard the Koran as being of any use at all for the purpose of spells, charms, talisman or amulet. The whole thing shrieks of fabrication.
The latest (February) update of the Barnabas Fund has information about 2 other persecuted Christians and their families in Pakistan.
http://www.barnabasfund.org/News/update.htm
at February 24, 2005 11:22 AM
Hmmmm.
Christianity prohibits magic.
Conventional wisdom is that all religions are alike.
So, in what Christian country would this man be jailed for practicing witchcraft?
at February 24, 2005 11:47 AM
Just more of the legendary tolerance found in islam that we so often hear about...
Posted by: Belisarius at February 24, 2005 11:47 AM
Maybe he needed something to wipe with after a number 2,this would be all it is good for.
They should see my copy of the koran,nasty note stuck to it,messages of christianity written in it and above all else that allah never was and never WILL be.
Posted by: chuck at February 24, 2005 12:24 PM
What the hell is going on in Multan??
This is the same region where two days ago Dhimmi Watch disclosed the betrothal of a 2 year-old girl to a 42 year-old man. It is also the same area where a woman was gang raped by order of a village council as punishment for her brother's affair with a woman from a higher class tribe.
We should just skip the pretenses of modernity and rename this region Jurassic Park - the Land Time Forgot.
Posted by: Mike at February 24, 2005 12:44 PM
Details on Pakistani blasphemy laws:
Blasphemy laws in Pakistan-
Offenses relating to religion: Pakistan Penal code
http://www.rationalistinternational.net/Shaikh/blasphemy_laws_in_pakistan.htm
PAKISTAN-
Use and abuse of the blasphemy laws
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA330081994?open&of=ENG-2AS
Posted by: Mike at February 24, 2005 1:01 PM
Jesus, help him because none politician and western journalists help him.
Posted by: Franze at February 24, 2005 3:17 PM
Up here in Canada CAIR wants Shariah-Law to be used and mainly on female Muslims,but Shariah
wont stop there and the gutless PC leaders will overlook some crimes by Muslims as a "Religious"
Right protected in the Charter of Rights.
The problem for Female Muslims under Shariah
is that they too often become "Dead"-Right under Islamic and Quranic teachings.
Maybe it's time to hold a Quran-burning rally
and see if that self-professed "Peaceful" religion
tolerates people expressing a opposition to the
taqiyyah in the West.
I say this because I witnessed Muslim and Arab youths burning a Bible and spitting on police
outside the American Embassy in Ottawa Canada,and
flag burning in Toronto with an Israeli and American flag soaked in lighter fluid after being stompped on by the Peaceful tolerant followers of Islam.
Remember how outraged CAIR was when U.S. soldiers were alleged to have entered a Mosque in Iraq while leaving on the dirty boots and had torn a page out of a Quran.
Seems that CAIR is now very quiet on the Mosque bombings by Muslims and they also were quiet on
them being used to store weapons and wage war from.
While Muslims wash their feet and cleanse the Mosque for holyness they fail to cleanse their hearts and purge the hate and revengefulness
that causes them to be disliked by sane moral citizens of non-Islamic Countries.
at February 24, 2005 3:56 PM
>What the hell is going on in Multan??
Insanity brought about or exacerbated by an irrational belief in the supernatural compounded by the absence of any secular legal restraint?
f.g.
Posted by: f.g. at February 24, 2005 3:57 PM
And in nearby Afghanistan, things are going much better.
An OT item, and I know some of you dislike the man, but here is some news we Don't hear in the MSM:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_022305/content/rush_in_afghanistan_part_2.guest.html
Posted by: Gary at February 24, 2005 4:06 PM
Franze
I agree!
at February 24, 2005 4:37 PM
I keep my Koran in my closet, underneath a mountain of shoes.
Posted by: former liberal WF at February 24, 2005 5:54 PM
More reasons why we should exchange muslims in the West for Christians in muslim nations.
Kill two birds with one stone so to speak.
at February 24, 2005 5:57 PM
A worthewhile read - the dangers that are faced by muslims who have converted to Christianity
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/
Posted by: DP111 at February 24, 2005 5:59 PM
I'm normally against the burning of books, but the Koran is one book which I would be happy to burn.
Posted by: Voltaire at February 25, 2005 3:26 AM
I'm normally against the burning of books, but the Koran is one book which I would be happy to burn.
Posted by: Voltaire at February 25, 2005 3:26 AM
I'm normally against the burning of books, but the Koran is one book which I would be happy to burn.
Posted by: Voltaire at February 25, 2005 3:26 AM
I was thinking that this poor Christian most probably had a nice house, plenty of nice possessions which are now sitting in the accusors house.
Posted by: Daffersd at February 25, 2005 8:44 AM
"I keep my Koran in my closet, underneath a mountain of shoes."
*PEPSI SPEWING OUT NOSE*
Posted by: Mike at February 25, 2005 1:56 PM
what are you guys like 10, "i keep my quran under a pile of shoes" geez, you are completely ignorant as to how islam works, basing your views on a bias internet site, and brainwashed by the media. you seriously need to know the facts before you start insulting ones religion.
interesting how Mr Spencer claims he has no intention of degrading islam or creating hatred towards it, when a forum like this is clearly what he is encouraging.
at February 25, 2005 4:10 PM
Posted by: Franze, February 24, 2005 03:17 PM
Jesus, help him because none politician and western journalists help him.
Yes Franze, all we can do is to pray that God helps him. For it certainly true that no politician or MSM will even whisper his name. And why would they? The Armanious family was slaughtered in America itself- and just hear the Sounds of Silence.
Posted by: DP111 at February 25, 2005 4:18 PM
spiral:
OK forget this site. Just go and read the history of islam as documented by those who fell to the savagery of this cult. You might also care to read the historical records of muslims themselves, just so you think the whole non-muslim world is biased against islam. And then read the koran and see if you can make any correlation.
Are you a muslim by the way?
at February 25, 2005 4:36 PM
Islam, by just being itself, and getting up to Islamic things degrades, belittles and insults itself.
One's true worth and character is always revealed by one's actions, not one's words. I laugh at the constant claims of "that's not how Islam works". It's right there in front of your face. So obvious you'd have to blind or brainless to not see how Islam works. We see its works: 9/11, Bali, Madrid, Beslan, Theo Van Gogh, Darfur, girls lashed & stoned for alleged illicit sex, honor killings, FGM, homocide bombings, constant plots to destroy and murder, etc., etc. Plenty of examples for us to see how Islam works.
Mr. Spencer doesn't encourage hatred of Islam. He merely points out what Islam gets up to. We make up our own minds. People with compassion and souls do not accept the actions of Islam. We're justifiably horrified and disgusted.
Posted by: feralee at February 26, 2005 1:56 AM
yes i am a muslim.
and i am well versed in the history of Islam, i am not denying islamic law, and beleive me it works. america is considered one of the most liberal countries in the world, yet they have more deaths by shooting than any other country on the planet, in new york alone they have over 11 murders a day, and these are old stats. yet if you go to a country under islamic law, and i mean true islamic law, not the type that is portrayed in the media, i.e women being beaten on the streets, hell if you come to my town on a saturday night you'd see more women getting beaten by men then on any TV station, u'd realise that it works, death by murder are very rare as is rape and other forms of violence, so i ask you which nation is better off, one that follows their religion, or one that is too scared to walk the street, or go to an atm at night due to fear of getting mugged or worse killed.
Posted by: spiral at February 26, 2005 12:18 PM
Mr. Spiral -- I would feel much more fearful of you knowing where I live (since my Koran is safely tucked away under my hiking boots)than I would of taking money out of an ATM at midnight in the heart of New York City.
Posted by: former liberal WF at February 26, 2005 3:28 PM
Mr.Spiral - are you for real, or just a fake got up by extremely disgruntled anti-Muslim propagandists? I have trouble believing that anyone could be so wholly deprived of any depth, so entirely shallow and vain and self-righteous. But I will admit that if any cult in the world could produce your likes, Islam would be the one. Hey, if you want to practise a crime (e.g. violence against women) - just strike it off the laws, it is no longer a crime, it is just and right and fair! Whoop de doo for Islamic justice - the kind where (if you are born the right sex) you can have your cake and eat it. As for Islamic public order - why is it that the Turkish, Albanian and Bosnian mafias are well on their way to outplaying even the native product in Italy, the country that invented organized crime? Why is that Albanian robbers have become the nightly terror of isolated Italian farmhouses? Another instance of the wonderful educational result of an Islamic upbringing?
Posted by: Paolo at February 26, 2005 5:31 PM
Spiral:
You're the classic Muslims,you try to promote
Islam by pointing out it slaughtered less humans than other faiths.
Now THAT'S a real selling point for auto makers, "Our cars kill less drivers in major accidents than the other Companies".
Even CAIR doesn't see the irony,the link below is to a article by CAIR alerting Muslims to a con-artist that takes their money under the guise of helping him snaek into Countries because he lost his passport or needs airfare to host a seminar he plans to attend for the Muslim community.
CAIR tells Muslims to go to the FBI and report being ripped-off and ask for a copy of the report for their records,next CAIR will be advising Muslings to report their financial support for Charities that are connected to Terrorism and didn't have a valid status for TAX-emempt donations to issue receipts.
Reminds me of the idiot that called the police to report his cocain being stolen by the guy he sold marijuana to when he was at his home.
"Incredible but true"
http://cair-net.org/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=1457&theType=NR
at February 27, 2005 12:28 AM
Spiral:
If I lived in a true Islamic country, then I couldn’t read the Qur'an in the bathroom.
Posted by: Bar at February 27, 2005 3:08 AM
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